


salt the earth beneath

by matadors



Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Adoption, Dead May Parker (Spider-Man), Flash Thompson Redemption, Found Family, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, Implied/Referenced Child Abuse, Not Beta Read, Parent Tony Stark
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-21
Updated: 2020-04-21
Packaged: 2021-03-01 20:33:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,142
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23733142
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/matadors/pseuds/matadors
Summary: His fatherly instincts kick in and he makes a quick trip to the guest bathroom and returns with two fluffy towels he uses to wrap around both boys. Flash visibly flushes when Tony starts to dry his hair and tighten the sheet of terry cloth around him. He does the same for Peter, only adding in an additional step to kiss his cold forehead."You guys okay?" he asks, kneeling in front of them like a parent comforting their child after they fall down and scrape their knees.The boys look at each other, then at Tony. "He - he got kicked out - by his dad." Peter croaks.(Flash's father cuts all ties with him - he gets a new family as a result)
Relationships: Peter Parker & Tony Stark, Tony Stark & Flash Thompson
Comments: 36
Kudos: 186





	salt the earth beneath

**Author's Note:**

> as a student in high school, i know nothing about legal terms or procedures so there's a high chance that most of the legal talk in this fic is incorrect, sorry in advance for that and any potential typos as this hasn't been beta read

It should go without saying that Tony is considerably confused at the sight of double the amount of teenager in his living room. He's stirring up a mild headache after walking out of a five hour long corporate meeting that ended not even fifteen minutes ago - maybe he's seeing double. But it's highly unlikely due to the fact that one notorious Flash Thompson is standing in front of him, next to Peter. His eyes are panicked, glazed over and red - Tony's familiar with that look. Something must be wrong. They're both dripping wet onto the carpet he just vacuumed this morning, a likely result from commuting in the thundering rain outside.

His more-than-recently developed fatherly instincts kick in and he makes a quick trip to the guest bathroom and returns with two fluffy towels he uses to wrap around both boys. Flash visibly flushes when Tony starts to dry his hair and tighten the sheet of terry cloth around him. He does the same for Peter, only adding in an additional step to kiss his cold forehead.

"You guys okay?" he asks, kneeling in front of them like a parent comforting their child after they fall down and scrape their knees.

The boys look at each other, then at Tony. "He - he got kicked out - by his dad." Peter croaks.

Flash is shaking and Tony can see his sixteen year old self in him, vulnerable, bruising and cast under Howard's bitter spells. It's a petty thing to bring up, looking at the fact that he's the adult in this equation, but he and the Thompsons have never been on the same chapter of the book. It's like a mid nineteenth century rivalry between families but all the mercenaries and hitmen have been replaced with lawyers and legal teams. He remembers stitching up the scar on Peter's jaw that used to be a cut and rubbing ointment on several bruises - all courtesy of Flash Thompson.

"Okay," he breathes, sighing as his head throbs. He could use some advil. "I'm gonna get started on dinner and in the meantime, you two can take hot showers before you freeze to death." he additionally asks Peter to pull out his sleeping bag and let Flash crash in his room tonight - despite his own reluctance - and that he'll have one of the spare rooms set up tomorrow. 

When the kids disappear into the hallway, Tony puts his head into his hands knowing how messy the next few weeks are about to become. He makes a mental note, reminding himself to call Pepper or his lawyers tomorrow to see what they can do about Flash's...current situation. He's not exactly sure what 'kicked out' in this context means - will the kid's father want him back? Does he want him gone forever?

And then there's the whole part where he's letting his _own_ kid's bully into his home, glossing over the fact that Peter is in therapy because of him. It makes him sick to the stomach. But then again, the empathetic chunk in him can understand what it feels like to be isolated and kicked to the curb by someone who you thought once loved you, who you think _still_ _does_ love you - despite the evidence that points towards them being abusive in more than one way.

He has a pot of pasta boiling and peso sizzling on the stove when Flash creeps into the kitchen. He's wearing a pair of Peter's sweatpants and the Black Sabbath sweatshirt Tony got him for Christmas. His hair is damp and curling around his neck, just like Peter, and Tony resists the urge to part it through the side with his fingers and smooth it out. Like he always does with Peter.

"Uh - Peter's still in the shower, Mr Stark." Flash all but whispers, picking at a hangnail.

"If this is the situation we're going to be in, you might as well call me Tony, kid." he says, straining the pasta through a sieve. He remembers saying the same thing to Peter just a little over six months ago. "Can you grab me a bowl from uptop?"

Flash nods. "Sure thing, Mr - uh, _Tony_." the kid, still flustered, gets onto his toes and retrieves a glass bowl from the shelf before handing it to him.

There's an uncomfortable cloud of silence that rains into them not soon after. It's Peter's emerging from his room a few minutes later that lifts the awkwardness between everyone. "I set up the sleeping bag and put out a few pillows and blankets if you need them," he announces.

They eat at the dining table, the rain outside serving as a soundtrack. Tony brings up and recounts the tail of how he and Rhodey once got locked out of their college apartment and had to sleep outside for a whole night, just to say something totally unrelated to the connotations of Flash's being here. Peter laughs and gets bits of pasta stuck up his nose, which manages to coax a laugh out of Flash until said bits of pasta start dropping out from his nostrils.

Tony scrapes leftovers into ziploc containers and puts the dishes in the dishwasher before joining the other two by the TV. It takes about five episodes of _Who Wants to Be a Millionaire_ for Peter to conk out on top of him. "It's pretty late, kid. I think it's about time we all head to bed." he tells Flash, who's as equally asleep as Peter, just not sprawled out onto him. And it's weird because he's tucking his sleeping kid in while making sure the other is also safely settled in. If only his thirty year old self could have seen him now.

"I'm just a door down if you need anything, okay?"

A silent nod.

"Goodnight, kid."

As opposed to sleeping he delves into hours of digging up information about Flash's father - Harrison Thompson, he's an architect, widowered, three times divorced though Flash is his only biological child, was once arrested for illegal drug possession. He could easily feed that information to his lawyers. But what exactly is he planning to do, _adopt_ the kid? Just the thought of it is panic attack inducing. It's different because he was so sure with Peter when his aunt passed away, he still is, but this is the _same_ person who punched the lights out of Peter.

Tony exhales and closes his eyes, wanting to leave the thinking to tomorrow morning when he'll be a little more awake and aware.

When he wakes the rain is no loner and there's sunlight pouring into the bedroom and stinging his eyes - it's Saturday, he can tell by the obnoxiously red numbers on the BB-8 alarm clock Peter got him when they went to Galaxy's Edge.

The kids are both scarfing down Lucky Charms by the time Tony walks into the kitchen in a ratty bathrobe to inhale his daily mug of coffee. "Morn'," he grumbles as he presses his lips against the side of Peter's head. He signals a smile at Flash for the purpose of not seeming too favoritive.

The roster's full today, there's a lot to do before this ball game can come tumbling down. He should shoot a heads up in the form of an email to the legal team before trying to get in contact with Flash's father. He still isn't sure where this is branching out to because there's a millennia of possible outcomes and there's also somewhat of a chance that by the end of it he'll end up with two kids instead of the one. But that chance is low, _extremely_ low. Tony already has Peter, he doesn't really need another kid, much less a bully. And there he goes being trivial again. Besides, he's sure there's relatives or close family friends who are willing to take the kid in - in the event that his father doesn't want him back. Which, too, is highly unlikely because Howard always wanted _him_ back.

But it's a pretty average Saturday nonetheless. The only slight differences is that Tony does everything in double - he tells two teenagers to do their homework, reminds two teenagers to eat lunch, and sits through double the amount of ridiculous TV show episodes. 

"Tony, you _what_?" Pepper gasps over the phone.

"Look, I don't know Pep. Peter just showed up with him and said he got kicked out." Tony whispers, tucked into a far corner of his office so that the kids won't hear him. "I just think we need to do something about it before it gets messy or something."

"Or something? Tony," she sighs. "you do realize how complicated this is going to be, right?"

He furrows a brow. "What do you mean?"

There's a second of silence. "Well, for starters this isn't like Peter's case where you were actually _put down_ as a potential guardian in May's will -"

"Wait, hold on, you think I want to _adopt_ him?" that almost coaxes a laugh out of Tony. "I don't mean to be the bearer of bad news but we're talking about the kid who _abused_ my kid for fuck knows how long. I mean, if his father _really_ doesn't want him wouldn't he have filed for parental termination?"

"Filing for parental termination isn't as easy as you think it is Tony, and this is coming from the person who handled all the press after you admitted to being Iron Man."

"Can't we just, I don't know, get one of his relatives involved or something?"

Pepper hums, not not skeptical about the idea. "You could, if the relatives pass a background check administered by CPS. Look, this isn't really my field of expertise but I'll try to find you a social worker or someone else who's more experienced than I am. In the meantime call your lawyers before someone, _anyone_ , decides to sue." and she hangs up.

It's four in the afternoon when he emerges from his office.

"Where's Peter?" he asks when he sees that Flash is the only one sitting in the living room watching that horribly inaccurate TV show about cops.

"Oh, he um, he said he forgot about his and Ned's Social Studies project so he left. To do that. At," he clears his throat. "Neds."

"Of course he forgot." Tony raises a pair of eyebrows, but he isn't surprised. "I have the room set up for you 'cause I know that sleeping in a sleeping bag is only comfortable to a certain extent. So feel free to move in at any given time. Unless you're actually okay with the sleeping bag."

Flash laughs hoarsely, there's a quiver to his voice. "Yeah, no - thank you Mr - _Tony_. I'll do that."

And now the parent inside of him won't shut up. "Hey, is there something wrong, kid?"

"No, i-it's really nothing. I'm fine, _it's_ fine," but he's pawing at his eyes like how a dog tries to scratch at a flea bite. 

Shamelessly, it doesn't take Tony more than a millisecond to realize Flash's crying. _Great_ , he thinks. "Hey now, what's with the tears? Did I - was it something I said?"

"No, it's j-just really, really _stupid_ and I-I shouldn't even be crying about it because it's dumb and -" god, how he sounds like Peter right now. All Tony wants to do is tightly wrap him into a hug. _But,_ there's more reason to explain why he shouldn't than why he should.

"I'm no expert but it can't be dumb or stupid if it's making you cry, kid." hesitantly, Tony takes a seat next to Flash and places a reluctant hand onto his back. 

Flash heaves a few times, short of breath, but not particularly shedding any tears. "M-my dad was _really_ angry, when he kicked me out." he starts. "Like, angrier than he's ever been before. And I feel like he doesn't want anything to do with me anymore, he never _has_ and probably doesn't a-and I guess it just hurts knowing that he's...not exactly the person I thought he was anymore."

"Parents get angry sometimes, kid. It's in their nature. I'm sure whatever you did wasn't that bad and he'll want you back before you know it, my dad always did the same thing." Tony says, rubbing his back.

Flash sniffs and wipes his eyes, actually relaxing under Tony's touch. "You think?"

"Probably, we'll just have to wait and see."

"I guess, yeah."

There's a moment where Tony thinks Flash is going to say something else but apparently, he isn't. "Hey, I heard you teenagers liked ice cream. And it just so happens that I have a lot of it in my freezer. What do you say?"

Flash nods, slightly grins with a few teeth in display, and Tony wonders why he's getting a familiar achy feeling in his gut.


End file.
